Road Trip to Florence

Hard to believe, but Sunday was our first excursions to Florence this season. It seems in years past we either drive to or drive through the community at least once or twice, but I guess Hubby's 35 EECP sessions may have had something to do with our fewer winter adventures.

We explored some of Florence's historic buildings on this trip, seeing and learning more about this neighboring community. Some buildings we had seen before and some were new to us, and worthy of more research.

Florence has a 1.5 mile self-guided walking tour highlighting 29 historic buildings. Information is here.  There is also a yearly celebration which includes visiting some of those historic buildings, the second Saturday in February. We are usually in Yuma that weekend, so have missed the event. My point being there is much more to Florence than geocaching and the Greek restaurant.

Assumption of theBlessed Mary Catholic Church

built/completed in 1912, replacing the 1884 building which 

burned down

statue in the gardens

near the Stations of the Cross

the front door and unique colored glass windows

the back of the church

Second Pinal County Courthouse

it replaced the first county courthouse in 1891

rocking chairs on the veranda of the 

Florence Visitors Center

Hubby doing some research

former home, now the newspaper office

The First Presbyterian Church

built in 1931, replacing the first structure

stained glass windows

church was founded in 1888 and is the second 

oldest Presbyterian Church in use in AZ

Florence High School

completed in 1916 and still in use today

desks and tables in the atrium area

and a yard with some African daisies

African Daisies in Arizona

A year ago while geocaching, we happened upon a yard FULL of yellow and orange daisies. It was near the end of their peak bloom. see the photos here Cache In Trash Out

So this year when I saw a post in a Facebook group, I knew I had to go back and see it for myself, it its early stages of the blooming season. I have made two trips to the farmer's yard and through the comments of others I have learned more about this amazing site on the border of Apache Junction and Mesa.

African Daisies, not desert marigolds

growing around the farmer's old and current machinery

the farmer planted the yard 3 years ago

he harvests the seeds and has replanted the last two years

he also sells the seeds

horses in the yard next door

In another part of The Valley...

the bushes are beginning to bloom

a sure sign of spring!

Garmin 

an unsuccessful geocaching stop

Resort Wine Walk

As fund raisers for the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, our resort organized a Christmas Wine Walk the last two years. We were not here for either Christmas walk, but we do know people went all out decorating their sites for the resort's residents. This year a Cupids Wine Walk was added and held last Saturday. Purchasing a $10 wrist band allowed us to stop at each of the 12 sites and partake in the beverages and snacks provided by each host. I had purchased 2 wrist bands and because Hubby was at a baseball game, Jane and I climbed in the golf cart and headed out to check out the fun.

Okay. The selfie was after stop #2 or maybe #3???

the first stop had a cupcake 'wagon'

proceeds also donated to MD Anderson

Yummy lemon cupcakes, too!!!

first stop

wines, cheese, crackers

stop #2 for us

more wine choices & a table of snacks

stop #3

'homemade' wine, dill pickle spread, salmon spread

with assorted cheeses, meats & crackers

did I mention the hosts furnish the wine and snacks!

some hosts went above and beyond for snacks

one stop and pudding shots...yum!

our final stop (didn't get to all 12 of them) had live music

a band of 5 and 4 singers

all people from the resort

great music

a nice way to end the Cupids Wine Walk

I heard 400 tickets were sold for a very nice

donation to help Crush Cancer and just one 

of many events and activities held 

I am humbled to acknowledge I was one of two coordinators in 2009 when the Red Hatters started the resort's fund raising projects to donate money to help fight cancer. The resort's residents continue to be very generous and supportive in the fight against cancer. 

Sunday in Yuma

Our Sunday didn't start quite as early as the other 2 days. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the nearby diner before heading to the main event of the weekend...

held at the Wetlands Park

sign the log book~check

photo with Signal, the geocaching mascot~check

visit with geo friends~check

pick-up the 2020 SWAG geocoin~check

drop off travel bugs~check

buy some geo supplies~check

Time for some more geocaching...

We did a series of caches using Smart phones. One developer of the caches added a joke when the cache was found and logged correctly. We had some good laughs thanks to his or her sense of humor.

logging the find

returning the container

 

we had found this one last year and wanted to share it

with the others

its in there, but how to get to it????

open!

the gadget cacher in Yuma

the two above caches were his

Time to head to the Naked Date Farm as we head east...

another round of date shakes

and a grilled cheese, bacon, date sandwich

DELICIOUS!

some desert/canal geocaching

and some rest stop geocaching

none spotted on this trip

we did see many trains hauling 40' empty containers

heading to the port in San Diego 

Again, thanks to Sherry & Jane for sharing photos of our adventure

A fun weekend with geocaching friends

We all needed a couple of days to recover!

Saturday in Yuma

Saturday was a busy day, starting with an event at 8:00 AM and ending with one at 7:00 PM. We tired to meet a geocacher from TX, Janice, but she was hard to find in the gathering of a couple of hundred others.

Where are you JVET?

At 8:30 we all got the info we needed and headed out without finding Janice. We did touch base by cell phone and in a parking lot and made a plan to find the 20 specific geocaches.

We found geocaches in the countryside to the north and east of Yuma, an area Hubby and I had been to when we attended the SWAG event in 2014. See that blog post here.

We found our assigned caches and took time to check out other caches and take photos, because Sherry asked so nicely!  

the Bridge to Nowhere on the other end

McPhal Bridge

"This is the Bridge to Nowhere. It was built in 1929, is 800' long but was considered too weak for modern vehicles. When a dam was built upstream in 1968, the river was rerouted, making the bridge obsolete." 

I  know we walked on the bridge in 2014. That was not possible now.

no bees on Saturday

6 lookers, 1 photographer

it wasn't there

Hubby found it down below

there are 3 people in that tree looking for...

this ammo can

it was hidden under a piece of plywood

Way to go. Terry!

then because Sherry asked so nicely, Hubby did allow 

a stop for photos at this little church in the veggie fields

guest book on the altar

only 6 little pews

and 2 stained glass windows

collaboration meeting with Janice & her dad

the coin was the reward for finding those 20 caches

the T-shirt was this year's model

then a little more geocaching in town

Baby Boss birthday party in a park

another historic downtown building

full moon rise at the last geocache

and a beautiful sunset in the opposite direction

The End of Day 2 at SWAG in Yuma

Again, some of the photos are from Sherry and some are mine

Thanks for sharing, Sherry!

One more day in Yuma...

Click on any photo to enlarge it